A plea for diversity in eating disorders research

  • Eating disorders (EDs) are often stereotyped as affecting the SWAG, that is, as affecting mostly skinny, White, affluent girls. Over the last decade, however, significant progress has been made toward increasing diversity in ED research. There is consensus that EDs affect individuals of all genders, ages, sexual orientations, ethnic, and socio-economic backgrounds, with recent studies exploring social determinants of ED etiology, ED presentation, and developing diversity-affirming ED assessments. This article provides a brief summary of current developments related to diversity as a research theme, and proposes different perspectives toward further improving diversity in ED research. Specifically, we argue for exploring the role of diversity in ED treatment settings and outcomes, for pursuing diversity-oriented research pro-actively rather than as a reaction to issues of under-representation, and for integrating diversity across different areas of medical education and trainings in psychotherapy. Limitations with respect to the paucity of research, and the link between diversity as a research theme and ED-related workforce diversity are discussed.

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Metadaten
Author:Georg HalbeisenORCiDGND, Gerrit BrandtORCiDGND, Georgios PaslakisORCiDGND
URN:urn:nbn:de:hbz:294-95258
DOI:https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2022.820043
Parent Title (English):Frontiers in psychiatry
Publisher:Frontiers Media
Place of publication:Lausanne
Document Type:Article
Language:English
Date of Publication (online):2022/12/22
Date of first Publication:2022/02/18
Publishing Institution:Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Universitätsbibliothek
Tag:Open Access Fonds
eating disorders; ethnic bias; gender bias; medical education; sexual minority; social diversity
Volume:13
Issue:Artikel 820043
First Page:820043-1
Last Page:820043-8
Note:
Article Processing Charge funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) and the Open Access Publication Fund of Ruhr-Universität Bochum.
Dewey Decimal Classification:Technik, Medizin, angewandte Wissenschaften / Medizin, Gesundheit
open_access (DINI-Set):open_access
faculties:Medizinische Fakultät
Licence (English):License LogoCreative Commons - CC BY 4.0 - Attribution 4.0 International